The enemy had retreated, shaken but alive.
Ye Yu watched Chen Ping's panicked flight with indifference. He had seen no reason to kill him. In Ye Yu's eyes, such a man barely registered.
Chen Ping, for his part, made it back to the Kaoshan Sect at the fastest pace he had ever run in his life. The moment he laid eyes on Sect Leader Yun Yu, he dropped to his knees, grabbed the hem of Yun Yu's robe, and broke down sobbing.
"Sect Leader, there is something terrible in Songyang City..."
He wept as he spoke, his account spilling out in broken fragments. Yun Yu listened carefully, piecing the scattered words together until the essential truth emerged.
A Martial Emperor had appeared in Songyang City.
This was no mere speculation. The residual aura clinging to Chen Ping was proof enough, and it was so overwhelming that even Yun Yu, a ninth-grade Martial King, felt his heart clench at the touch of it.
He was one step away from becoming a Martial Emperor himself. Yet a simple trace of this stranger's lingering energy was enough to unsettle him. The true strength of the one who had left it behind was beyond his ability to measure, but there was no question that such a person could erase him without effort.
This was the unbridgeable gulf between a Martial King and a Martial Emperor.
After calming Chen Ping down, Yun Yu summoned all inner sect elders to the hall without delay.
Within a quarter of an hour, every elder had assembled. Including Chen Ping, seven were present. Had Elder Liu not been killed, there would have been eight. The number alone illustrated just how thin the sect's highest ranks truly were.
Each of these elders was a Martial King, the backbone of the Kaoshan Sect. Every loss among them was a wound that cut deep.
The elders, unaware of why they had been called, exchanged puzzled glances.
The kind-faced old man seated in the first chair on the right spoke first, his voice calm but curious. "Sect Leader, what matter is so urgent that you have called us all together?"
This was the Great Elder, an eighth-grade Martial King and the second strongest individual in the sect. The moment he voiced the question, the others nodded in agreement.
Yun Yu's expression was grave as he looked around the room. "Elder Chen Ping has uncovered the cause of Elder Liu Rong's death," he said slowly. "He was killed by a powerful unknown individual in Songyang City."
"Songyang City?"
"Elder Liu Rong died in Songyang City?"
Indignation rippled through the room at once. Who would dare kill an inner sect elder of the Kaoshan Sect? It was a brazen insult to the entire sect's authority.
The Kaoshan Sect was a pillar of the Tianfeng Kingdom. Even the royal family treated them with deference. Several elders immediately swore to hunt down the killer and bring back his head, both to avenge Elder Liu Rong and to restore the sect's dignity.
The Second Elder, renowned for his short temper, was the first to his feet. His face was dark as he declared, "Sect Leader, give me a name. I will bring back his head myself."
As a seventh-grade Martial King, the Second Elder was among the most formidable warriors in the entire kingdom, and his confidence was not unfounded.
The Great Elder raised a calm hand. "Second Brother, let us hear the Sect Leader out first."
Yun Yu exhaled slowly. "The one who killed Elder Liu Rong is a Martial Emperor."
Silence fell over the hall like a stone dropping into still water.
The elders who had been burning with righteous fury a moment ago were suddenly, completely still. Even the Great Elder stopped tugging his beard, his composure cracking for the first time.
A Martial Emperor.
Two words that carried the weight of the world.
In all of the Tianfeng Kingdom, the number of Martial Emperors could be counted on a single hand. The Kaoshan Sect itself had only one, its founding ancestor, whose existence underpinned the entire sect. No major force, not even the royal family, would casually deploy a Martial Emperor. Their mere presence was enough to reshape the balance of power.
And yet one had personally killed Elder Liu Rong.
"Sect Leader, are you certain?" The Second Elder's voice had lost all its earlier fire.
Yun Yu nodded. There was no room for doubt.
"Do we know which faction this Martial Emperor belongs to?" the Great Elder asked carefully.
"We do not," Yun Yu admitted, his frustration evident.
A Martial Emperor with no known allegiance and no traceable origin. The implications were deeply unsettling.
"Based on what Chen Ping brought back, this Martial Emperor appears to be closely tied to the City Lord's Mansion in Songyang City and is currently residing there," Yun Yu continued.
The Great Elder's eyes narrowed. "Could this Martial Emperor be connected to the royal family?"
"Unlikely," Yun Yu said firmly. "The royal family's Martial Emperor remains in seclusion within the palace and has not stirred."
The movements of Martial Emperors were scrutinized by every major power. An error in such intelligence was almost inconceivable.
Once again, the trail went cold.
Yun Yu sighed before delivering the final blow. "There is one more matter. The Wang family has also been destroyed, by the same Martial Emperor."
"Wang Teng's family?"
"Yes."
The shock was no less than that of Elder Liu's death.
Wang Teng was the sect's most brilliant genius, the Sect Leader's own personal disciple, and someone in whom the Kaoshan Sect had poured immeasurable resources. His ascension to Martial Emperor had seemed not a question of if, but when.
If Wang Teng were to learn that his entire family had been wiped out, his Dao Heart could shatter, and he might throw himself at a Martial Emperor in blind grief and rage.
A future Martial Emperor was not the same as one standing before you. No matter how extraordinary Wang Teng's talent, he was no match for an established Martial Emperor. Not yet.
Yun Yu's gaze swept the room, cold and absolute. "This must be kept from Wang Teng. All of you know what is at stake if he finds out."
No one spoke. No one needed to.